Dudleya farinosa (powdery dudleya/bluff lettuce).

Dudleya farinosa is a hearty little succulent that seems to grow out of the tiniest of cracks in the sandy cliffs overlooking the Pacific up here in Nor-Cal. Dudleyas are members of the crassula family (jade plants) and were named after William Dudley, a botanist from Stanford. Farinosa is Latin for floury, apparently referring to the powdered appearance of the leaves.

This little fellow is one of two that I liberated from a cliff in Marin County. I just yanked them out of their sandy prisons and stuck them in some sandy potting soil. Powdery dudleyas are near impossible to kill* and will eventually elongate and hang down from their roots by a thin stem.

* Unfortunately my wife killed the twin of the one in the picture--the deadly combination of a poorly draining pot and way too much water.